High school basketball players making early commitments to college

Maurice Kirby is 6 feet 9, 220 pounds. He has a 7-2 wingspan. He has a basketball scholarship to Arizona State.

But it's not binding. He is only a sophomore at Poston Butte High. He can't sign his letter of intent until November 2012.

By then, who knows how advanced his game will be, if the assistant coach who primarily recruited him to come to ASU will still be around and if the Sun Devils will still feel the same way about him.

He is still a big pup in size-16 shoes who admittedly has a ways to go to make an impact in what will then be called the Pac-12.

"There's always kids out there who want to see how many offers they can get," Kirby said. "My thing was, if the right school came to me, my Number 1 school, I was going to take it. I didn't know it was going to happen so soon, but it ended up happening."

Kirby, who moved with his mother, Michelle, to the Valley last summer, came off the bench at Flagstaff High as a freshman last year. He didn't put up numbers that would alert the college basketball world. But he passes the eye test. He attacks the glass. And coaches believe he could grow to 7 feet.

"A lot of these guys take a chance at a kid who is developing," said Jeff de Laveaga, who runs the Arizona Magic basketball club program that features Kirby. "They see them early and try to lock them in.

"I dealt with (ASU assistant coach) Scott Pera for a long time. I talked to him about coming to see Kirby. He's probably not as talented right now as (Chandler Basha 6-8 junior forward) Torren Jones was last year. But he's slowly passing guys. They see potential. They see a 7-2 wingspan. There's not a lot of those guys in Arizona. Their hunch is that he'll continue to develop and be able to play at that level."

The NCAA recently defeated a measure that would have stopped the early scholarship offers that come to kids as early as middle school. With all the AAU ball, scouting services and the Internet, there is more information on kids than college coaches ever had before. It forces coaches to pull the trigger with early offers because other schools will.

"I believe sometimes you're not even ready to do that, but you almost have to or you're out of the game," Grand Canyon University men's basketball coach Russ Pennell said.

Pennell said he doesn't know if a 15-year-old can make that college decision.

"That's where you wish guidance was better not only from parents, but the coaches, especially AAU coaches, saying, 'Let's just keep working at your game, and good things will happen to you,' " Pennell said.

After a strong performance in an Adidas showcase in Las Vegas in July that ASU coaches saw, Kirby quickly appeared on the radar. After the offer early this school year, Kirby got with his inner circle that included his mother and his club and conditioning coaches.

A week later, he decided to commit.

"Maurice has always been mature for his age," Michelle said. "He takes responsibilities for his actions, good or bad. Our family is based on our faith. We prayed about it. We sat down with ASU and projected how many scholarships there are going to be and who they're looking at. This is where Kirby wanted to be."

Taylor Rohde was on Cloud 9 during the spring of his sophomore year at Phoenix Pinnacle in 2006 when he was the first player Herb Sendek offered a scholarship to after he was hired as ASU's coach. The 6-8 center snatched it up, believing he was going to play a big part in revitalizing ASU basketball.

But by the time he stepped inside Wells Fargo Arena, the coaches who recruited him, Archie Miller and Mark Phelps, were gone. ASU abandoned what Rohde thought would be multiple bigs, for one big and four smaller players. After two years in a limited role, the 6-8, 235-pound Rohde transferred to Division II Alaska-Anchorage, where he is the team's second-leading scorer and leading rebounder this season.

"It is extremely easy to get caught up in what I call the 'awwww' factor from both a parent and player perspective when the mail and phone calls (come in)," said Monty Rohde, Taylor's dad. "It is too easy to look only at the D-I mail and disregard the 'unknown' programs."

Phoenix Arcadia junior guard Larry Lewis committed to Southern California during his sophomore year. It was the only offer he received. He didn't feel he would get another like that again.

But what are the guarantees that the scholarship will still be there by the time he's a senior.

"I think when you commit early, they start going over you with a fine-tooth comb," said Pennell, who led the University of Arizona to the Sweet 16 two years ago during his lone season as interim head coach. "They see you so many times, then they go, 'You know, he didn't go to his left very good. I don't know if he can play defense at our level.' All of a sudden, what they didn't see becomes a big blemish."

There are pros. An early commitment can stop the constant communication and pressures from programs that can get overwhelming. It gives players additional time to build relationships with that college's coaches and players.

But the coaching staff can change by the time they start their college eligibility and, if a player aims too high, significant playing time may not come until his junior or senior seasons.

"I had a kid turn down a full ride to a mid-major because of a promise from a Top 25 program," Phoenix Thunderbird boys basketball coach Buddy Rake said. "The Top 25 program ended up turning him down. I tried to get the scholarship back from the mid-major and couldn't. He is playing at a junior college.

"As John Wooden said, the most important ingredient of stardom is your teammates. Early offers and early commitments remove the necessity of teammates."